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Did the Colorado’s health insurance co-op sacrifice financial solvency for public relations wins? That’s the question we’re left after reviewing a report on state health co-ops issued by the Office of the Inspector General, which oversees the Department of Health and Human Services.

Colorado’s nonprofit co-op is called the Colorado Health-OP, which covers 80,000 people and provides just over 40 percent of all policies issued through the state health insurance exchange, according to The Statesman. Across the country, the co-ops formed through Obamacare are underwater. One in Louisiana shut its doors as did one that served Iowa and Nebraska recently. Colorado’s co-op is similarly troubled.

The audit showed that Colorado’s co-op had a whopping $23 million loss in 2014, which resulted from $54 million in income from premiums plus $14 million in other income (wait, what other income?), but $73 million in claims expenses and $18 million in administrative expenses.

Oddly, the co-op achieved its enrollment numbers (and then some), yet still posted a loss. The audit explained it as such:

“Claims’ expense exceeding premium income can be attributed to higher-than estimated enrollment of members with more expensive health conditions, enrolling fewer-than-expected young and healthy members, or inaccurate pricing of health insurance premiums.”

While the federal audit failed to identify which co-ops were engaging in behavior leading to insolvency, it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to know that the very things identified as problematic were taking place in Colorado:

“Some CO-OPs updated their business plans to include strategies to address low enrollment. For example, one CO-OP said it intended to lower its health insurance rates and focus on selling to individuals and small groups outside of the marketplace to increase enrollment for the remainder of 2014. Another CO-OP said it planned to focus on different educational and outreach activities, such as developing flyers, posters, and social media platforms to support brand awareness and educate consumers. Between June 30, 2014, and December 31, 2014, enrollment increased at these two CO-OPs. However, net losses also increased.”

In an effort to make its numbers, did Colorado’s health co-op reduce its rates so low that they were unsustainable?

The future for the Colorado co-op does looks similarly ominous. The projected 2014 net income for the co-op was supposed to be a loss of just? $5.6 million. The loss came in at $23 million. The loss for 2015 is projected to be $2.9 million. In 2016, the co-op is projected to net $1.9 million, but, of course, if the losses remain on the same track as 2014, we might expect bigger losses for 2015 and a loss for 2016.

Last fall was an explosive time in the Jeffco School District, initially spurred by the teachers union’s anger over pay for performance standards the district implemented, which then morphed into faux outrage over an idea to review Advanced Placement U.S. History curriculum after community complaints. In fact, it was found that the walkouts were planned far in advance of this proposal and were meant to address the pay issue.

Despite the cries of censorship, as it turns out, the AP U.S. History curriculum has been changed to ensure there is no political bias in the teaching. Does that make the Jeffco School Board’s idea (it was never implemented or even voted on) actually worthy of the discussion that the board had?

Here is what an AP U.S. History teacher who helped redesign the curriculum, Geri Hastings, told Newsweek about the changes:

“Some of the changes sound less pompous. Less morally judgmental. I think if [language] was tamped down, it was less about the criticism, but [rather] to make it less value-based. Just to put it out there, and teachers could then massage it as they taught it. I think before it was a little more value-laden. Now it’s like, here are the facts, teach it how you want to teach it.… I think it’s just more balanced, more mainstream, yet it doesn’t push things under the rug. There have been problems in our country. We enslaved people, and it was horrible. Again, you can’t just focus on that to the exclusion of other things.”

If the board was proven right in having a conversation about AP U.S. History, does that undermine the teacher’s union campaign to recall them? We’ve already established that the union’s critique about the superintendent’s pay is totally false, the teacher turnover is false, and the lack of transparency is false. There is literally no rational underpinning for this campaign.

GOP Presidential contender Carly Fiorina named to her team several Coloradans, one of which is prominent female entrepreneur, Heidi Ganahl, who just sold her enterprise Camp Bow Wow for an undisclosed sum thought to be in the tens of millions. Democrats wasted no time in denouncing the picks. In fact, one liberal blog had this to say about Fiorina’s line up: “Again, we’re not talking A-Listers.”

Liberals’ timing could not have been worse. As usual. Of course, there’s never a good time to try to tear down a successful female entrepreneur, is there? Ganahl recently participated in a TedX speech titled “The Art of the Comeback” talking about how she overcame adversity by giving back to others. What a jerk she is. (That’s sarcasm.) Here’s her speech. It’s worth watching.

In the speech, Ganahl talks about some of the adversity she faced including the death of her husband in his early 20s, being a single mom, losing almost a million dollars in a failed business, and infertility on her road to building a multi-million dollar business.

A quick Google search of Ganahl shows that she’s been a speaker at the University of Colorado’s Partners in Business Ethics Conference. She also sits on the Leeds School of Business Women’s Council. Further, her personal website notes the following achievements:

“Heidi’s company Camp Bow Wow was recently named to the Inc 500/5000 fastest growing company list, #88 on Entrepreneur Magazine’s 105 Fastest-Growing Franchises in North America and the 26th fastest growing women owned business in the country! Heidi has been featured on America Online, Business Week Online, CNN Money and in Parenting, Entrepreneur, More Magazine, Success and Franchise Times. Heidi has inspired millions with her story on CNBC’s The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch.”

Given this background, it would seem that those complaining have high standards for folks who sit in their pajamas writing vitriol. She sounds pretty impressive to us.

Frankly, Ganahl could have cured cancer and Democrats would have complained. See, the real issue is that Democrats are so terrified of the fact that they are losing the narrative on women that they will tear down any woman who will not carry their water. Shame on Democrats for continuing to wage a war on women who don’t agree with them.

Last election, Republicans proved that they could go toe to toe with beat Democrats on ground game, and it looks like they aren’t taking any chances in 2016. The Colorado GOP and Republican National Committee are expanding the Republican field operation in Colorado.

Here’s what RNC Chair Reince Preibus said about the move, according to a press release:

“The RNC is building the largest, earliest and most data focused field program in GOP history. This new wave of staff will help us train our team, register voters, and meet one-on-one with activists, to build our infrastructure now in order to hand our eventual nominee a fully functional ground operation on day one.”

Those hired include:

Ian Lindemann, RNC’s Colorado State Director

Jefferson Thomas, Deputy State Director

Kristian Hemphill, Data Director

Consider this earlier-than-ever start to campaigning in 2016 just another nail in Bennet’s Bannock Street model that failed former U.S. Sen. Mark Udall so famously.

It would appear that not all parents in Jeffco are doing the bidding of the Jeffco teachers union. A new video out interviewed a Jeffco mom, Jennifer Butts, herself a graduate of Jeffco Schools, who thanked the current Jeffco school board (no thanks to the board minority) for helping foster greater choices in education in Jeffco schools. Apparently, Butts’ son will attend an option school that will better meet his education needs.

We can’t wait for the union to start attacking a mom for defending her child’s right to an education in 5…4…3…2…1….

It’s too bad that the PERA Bucks, a gimmick by pro-union advocates, aren’t actual dollars to help the insolvent Colorado state pension fund. Instead, PERA Bucks is part of “We Are PERA”, a project Secure PERA to raise awareness of the money that state workers have to burn. We’re rich! is apparently the message from the state employees union. We’ve included a picture to the right.

This scheme begs for someone to ask: Isn’t using monopoly money lookalikes to support an insolvent pension system really just reminding people that the system is not sound? Did anyone really think this through? The PERA Bucks read: “This purchase was made with public employee retirement dollars. Colorado’s retired public employees spend $3.2 billion annually supporting Colorado’s economy.”

Denver Post columnist and radio personality Mike Rosen pulled no punches in his description of this campaign:

“This message is an insult to your intelligence. PERA retirees spend as much as they do precisely because of the huge tax burden they impose on private-sector taxpayers to benefit their own retirement. If that burden weren’t so high, those private-sector taxpayers would be spending more of their own money supporting our economy.”

Perhaps not coincidentally, this hilarious campaign to rid taxpayers of their extra hard-earned funds was developed by the very same folks who are running the Jeffco School Board recalls as well as trying to breathe some life in the floundering teachers union down in Douglas County – Strategies 360.

Here’s another punch to this campaign from Rosen:

“In a letter to PERA retirees, Lynea Hansen, executive director of Secure PERA, says, ‘State employees are under attack by special interests who want to end pension systems. They don’t fully understand we worked hard for our retirement.’ This is arrogantly ironic, given that the more than 500,000 self-serving PERA members are the most expensive special interest in the state. The ‘special interests’ she refers to are private-sector Colorado taxpayers who must work that much harder to transfer their income to PERA retirees.”

It’s funny that Strategies 360 would swear on their mothers’ graves that the Jeffco recalls aren’t run by special interests (ahem, the teachers union that they also represent), but that taxpayers are special interests.

Perhaps someone should help these folks out with the definition of “special interests”.

There are some crimes that are so heinous, so offensive to every fiber of our sense of right and wrong that allowing their perpetrator to live would be an affront to basic laws of humanity. The Aurora Theater Shooter, whose name we still refuse to use, committed just such a crime.

Earlier this month, he was found guilty on all charges of murdering and injuring folks at an Aurora theater. The trial is now in the penalty phase, which could last up to a month. The death penalty is on the table. When this guy was found guilty, we responded that we hoped he got the death penalty and that Gov. John Hickenlooper would not be in office to offer a temporary reprieve. We were kidding, but apparently Hick was not.

According to a Los Angeles Times article, “…Gov. John Hickenlooper has made it his policy that no one in Colorado will be executed as long as he is in office.”

It’s an odd thing to proclaim given how supportive Coloradans are of sending the shooter to meet his maker. A Quinnipiac poll showed that Coloradans back the death penalty for this scum of the earth two-to-one. In fact, Quinnipiac’s Tim Malloy described the Colorado feeling about the death penalty as “there is barely a thread of sentiment in Colorado for abolishing the death penalty.”

And, yet, our Governor stands by his refusal to allow justice. If the theater shooter escapes the death penalty, Colorado should abolish it. Seriously. Because if the death penalty was not tailor made for this scum of the earth, we don’t know to whom it could possibly apply.

The Interior Department today held their first “listening session” on the future of coal — in Washington, of course, so the national environmental groups could have their say before real Americans get a chance.

To sum up the two hours of nonsensical testimony from the Sierra Club and about a dozen of their interns, along with Greenpeace, Wilderness Society, and several others with like-sounding names: Coal companies should pay their fair share of royalties because coal is dirty so keep it in the ground.

Our buddies from WildEarth Guardians tweeted about the event and issued a statement making it appear to their supporters they were there representing their interests as well. But we don’t think they were because they didn’t bother to speak.

To sum up their statement that never actually made it into the record “ … coal needs to be kept in the ground.”

The closest Interior Secretary Sally Jewell’s listening tour will come to the Colowyo mine is August 18 at the Marriott Denver West.

The purpose of the tour is to determine how high taxes should be raised on the coal industry before the Obama administration shuts it down completely, but we’re just paraphrasing here.

We anticipate that every out-of-state environmental group will show up in Denver to make sure their screeching cries are heard by the administration. But we also expect that real people whose real lives are actually affected by these policies will make an even stronger showing with actual facts and substance to back up their arguments.

Congressman Ed Perlmutter has gotten really good at largely flying under the radar… at least until last week. After a high profile golf game with the President, Perlmutter incurred widespread speculation that this special outing was in exchange for his support of Obama’s controversial deal with Iran.

The Courses at Andrews Air Force Base

The suspicious timing of Perlmutter’s golf date with the president sent his press shop into explanation overdrive. Today, we’re seeing their efforts to spin this as nothing more than the result of a failed “compliment sandwich.” Yes, you read that correctly. The best they could come up with was a failed compliment sandwich.

According to a report in Bloomberg, way back in 2013 Perlmutter attempted to give Obama a compliment sandwich – you know where you sandwich a harsh criticism in between two compliments to soften the blow. Anyway… Perlmutter claims that he sandwiched a tough question between thanking the president for his concern about Colorado wildfires and inviting him to play golf.

Obama allegedly got pissed about the tough question and ignored the golf invite. Perlmutter figured his sandwich had failed and golf was never going to happen. Until a month later when Obama brought it up and efforts to schedule something got underway. It took two years but they finally made the golf date happen.

So there you have it folks… nothing to see here. Just keep moving along and ignoring good ol’ Ed because a private golf game with the president isn’t quid pro quo, it’s just the result of a failed compliment sandwich, or whatever.

The FEC announced this week that tele-town hall meetings held by members of Congress to commune with their constituents are actually illegal.

It’s the robo-calls that done ‘em in.

Initially, there was much rejoicing on our part, because as everyone knows, robo-calls are the devil’s tool, especially when employed on cell phones.

But these are not phone calls telling us we’ve won a trip to Disney World or imploring us to donate to charities we’ve never heard of, this is democracy calling.

So we’re going to side with the stunned politicians who had no idea they’ve been breaking the 1991 Telephone Consumer Protection Act as interpreted by the FEC.

In a state like Colorado where there are several sprawling congressional districts, it’s difficult if not impossible for voters to drive 60 miles to the nearest town hall meeting to have a word with their congressperson.

And as Americans, it’s our God-given right to have unobscured access to our congresspersons to give them a piece of our mind when it comes to high taxes, job-killing laws, frivolous spending of taxpayer dollars, and stupid government regulations, like this one.

Even though we have to suffer the indignity of a robocall inviting us to join in the conversation with our elected officials, we should rejoice just as equally in accepting the call or, rudely hanging up on our congressperson.

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